Ecclesiastes 3:1 1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…
What is your season of life? Do you find joy in it? Do you wish you could move to a new season? Does it cause you consternation that the seasons of your life don’t always mesh with what you want them to be?
“I have been feeling lately that most of my brain is asleep. I have only been doing what is necessary for many years. I would like to feel more awake and capable. So I am on the search for something I would like to do. I have created the habit of doing a lot of thinking and coming up with ideas but not moving forward with them. I will just have to step out and make the effort. Love, Marie”
A short time later I received this letter.
“So I am thinking about trying to get a small class together here. I read your post on stopping yelling and thought maybe I would start with that. Maybe do two things per class. So I would need to elaborate on your ideas more. Maybe you could email a little more detail on your steps two at a time. I would maybe do a class every other week or once a month. Also maybe give us each a challenge to work on until the next class. What are your thoughts on this? Love, Marie”
This letter came from a dear friend of mine. She has recently begun a second marriage. She has four children ages 3 through 11 and one on the way. Being pregnant is not easy for her. She will have her children home 24-7 which isn’t this family’s normal schedule.
She feels the need to exercise her brain, do something worthwhile and important; maybe create a class, organize a group of women and have challenges to work on. After all she has spent the last 11 years doing what is necessary, parenting her children and all that entails. It doesn’t feel like very inspiring work to her right now. She is questioning the value of her present season of life.
Cherish the season of life you are in
I think that this woman has challenges aplenty. She is in a very important season that is going to take all the energy, wit and humor and time that she has; parenting a new family and creating a new life!
I love this woman. She is an amazing mom, a wonderful friend and a real go getter. She like many other women I know has a difficult time recognizing the season that she is in and then accepting and embracing it. That is how many of us get into trouble.
Here was part of my reply.
“As for your brain, during a fifth pregnancy is not the time to try and take on a bunch of new stuff!!!!!!! Find a good book to read and call it good until this baby is here and at least a year old. That really is the focus right now and it is OK. Everything has a season. Really!
I love you Marie. Don’t get distracted. Right now you are creating a new family and a new baby. There are forces which will try to distract you even with good things. Don’t let them do it. Just be present with what is happening now. Let this be your season to blend your family, heal it, and to add to it. Let this be your season for magnificent mothering and peaceful parenting.”
I know that it is really important for a woman to stretch her mind and find her passion, follow her mission, and so forth and so on. I have heard it all. However, it is equally important, if not more so, to cherish your mothering years, to value them and to find peace in them. Cherish motherhood and the duties that come with it. Be open to the season you are in.
I actively parented for 40 years. Our youngest child left home last year.I am over 60 years old and am here to tell you that there is life after parenting. There is time for all the beautiful things you hope to accomplish in this life. Its never too late to accomplish your dreams and goals.
I finished my bachelors and did my Master’s when I was almost 50.
There is LOTS of life after parenting
I started a new business after I was 60 and it is doing well.
I began writing after 60.
I began speaking in front of large audiences, a long held dream of mine, just before I turned 60.
It is important to relish the seasons of your life. You are not going to run out of time by taking care of the season of life that you are in. You will, however, be able to look back on each season with a bit more joy and satisfaction!
Possibly Related Posts:
- Self Care for Better Parenting – Part 2
- Self Care for Better Parenting – Part 1
- Got Kids 24/7 – 2 Tips to make life easier
- The Screen Free Experiment
- 5 Tips to Put Family first
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